2012 April » PureBunkum

Cash Cow Put Out To Pasture – For Now

Local

Apr 272012

After paying a former Wilkes-Barre City administrator $34,460 for part-time work from January 9 to April 13, or on average $2,600 a week, the city Parking Authority voted to cap its fees for consultants – sort of.

The authority, which agreed enough is enough – sort of, voted to only spend another $10,000 on consulting fees until Phase 2 begins. For all we know, Phase 1 is over anyway.

J.J. Murphy might as well place “Esquire” after his name. Just like a lawyer, he submits bills if he sneezes on behalf of his client. He actually had the audacity to charge his fee of $300 per hour for reading e-mails from local newspaper reporters, who more than likely had some questions about his bills.

Murphy, to date, submitted four time sheets, to the parking authority, no holds barred – until Thursday when the authority finally got around to reining in his golden goose.

“We can’t have an open-ended contract,” said authority member Ed Katarsky. THANK YOU, because since December, that’s exactly what the authority had, and Murphy seemed to take full advantage of it after he recommended his brother’s Philadelphia law firm to lead the team to pursue a plan to lease the city’s parking assets. Brother Patrick’s law firm then hired J.J., and the billings piled up – $107,000 for Phase 1.

Add to that another $10,000 for Phase I, which seems to be nothing more than putting out feelers to see who might be interested in paying the city a minimum $20 million to take over its parking garages and meters.

We can’t help but wonder why the city didn’t simply run some ads in The Wall Street Journal or in relevant trade magazines:

”The city of Wilkes-Barre is looking for someone to lease its $28 million Intermodal Transportation Center and some garages and meters for the next 30 to 50 years, but we want no less than $20 million up front. Any takers? If interested, call city Mayor Tom Leighton, aka TML.

Thankfully, on Thursday the parking authority also put on hold Fox Rothschild’s decision to hire yet another consultant, Desman Associates. Unfortunately, unlike J.J. Murphy, that Chicago company is actually a specialist in parking planning.

Much to his credit, authority member Katarsky, told Fox Rothschild attorney Alan Wohlstetter, “You said you had the expertise and all we hear is consultants, consultants, consultants.”

The Times Leader was forced to file a right-to-know request to get J.J. Murphy’s four time sheets, which netted him $6,050 for 20.1 hours of services from Jan. 9-16; $6,330 for 21.1 hours from Jan. 17-31; $8,130 for 27.1 hours from Feb. 21 to March 15 and a whopping $13,950 from March 18 to April 13 - or $13,950 for 27 days of part-time work.

In an e-mail to TL Staff Writer Bill O’Boyle, (which will likely be listed on his next time sheet), Murphy said his fee is “based on my contribution to the value the city and the Parking Authority derive from this project.” This is a $20 million plus project plan, mind you, and he is actually tying his worth to that value?

By the way, there must be an alarm clock in the project meeting room in Philly because all 9 meetings lasted exactly 7 hours, or $2,100 a pop for J.J.

How much do you want to bet that once that last $10,000 for Phase 1 is depleted, there will be no further project meetings until Phase 2 kicks in, if there is a Phase 2.

At least the Parking Authority has finally taken notice of the gravy train that was traveling non-stop from Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia. And you’ll be happy to know that so had Mayor Tom Leighton, sort of.

It’s right there on J.J.’s April 15th $13,950 time sheet for 20 days of part-time work.

Wilkes-Barre’s former city administrator actually billed the authority for taking a “Call from TML on compensation concerns.”

Although it is possible that it wasn’t his buddy J.J.’s compensation that TML was concerned about, or maybe the mayor just didn’t get through to J.J., because after that April 5 call, Murphy went on to rack up more than $1,500 of consulting fees, including ”Multiple calls with,” among others, The Citizens’ Voice and The Times Leader.

Unbelievable!

- Betty Roccograndi

Don’t Miss This Meeting!!!!!

Local

Apr 252012

The Wilkes-Barre City Parking Authority must be expecting a crowd, and we hope it’s not disappointed.

The authority, city Mayor Tom Leighton and former city administrator, now $300-per-hour consultant J.J. Murphy, are pursuing a plan to lease to a private vendor, the city’s parking meters and garages, including its Taj Mahal, commonly known as the $28 million Intermodal Transportation Center.

Along the way, the bills have been piling up.

The authority meets Thursday at noon and has requested a change of venue from its regular meeting quarters at the Park & Lock North garage on North Main St. to the Imperial Ballroom at the Genetti Hotel & Conference Center at 77 E. Market St.

Considering that the authority and city officials have been dancing around the specifics of this multi-million dollar endeavor, the Genetti ballroom is definitely a more fitting setting.

The parking authority, which has unfortunately gone unnoticed until now, has already approved $83,000 in payments since December to the Philadelphia law firm of Fox Rothschild.

We don’t know what they did because we haven’t seen those bills.

The only bill the parking authority did release to our local newspapers was J.J. Murphy’s March 19th “Timesheet,” listing 27.1 hours of services for $8,130. That bill included $300 for “Prep for 6th project meeting” and $600 for “Prep for 7th project meeting.”

Murphy billed city residents $2,100 to attend “6th project meeting at Fox/Rothschild and Finance call,” and another $2,100 to attend “7th project meeting @Fox-Conf call with TML, Marie, Bond counsel and RBC on refinancing plans.”

Pretty informal time sheet, wouldn’t you say, to support an $8,130 bill? We know TML is Leighton. We have to guess who RBC is. The parking authority members apparently don’t care. J.J. prepares his own time sheet, presumably on the honor system.

Maybe at Thursday’s meeting, the authority will tell us what J.J. charged for preparing and attending meetings 1 through 5, and whether we’re paying him $300 per hour to travel to and from his brother’s law firm in Philadelphia or whether those two meetings actually lasted 7 hours each.

When The Times Leader asked about meetings 1 to 5, J.J. said he didn’t have his files handy, so “I can’t tell you how much was billed.” Fox Rothschild attorney Alan Wohlstetter said, “I’m not going to respond to those specific questions.” So there, taxpayers.

Maybe they’ll tell us tomorrow, as well as whether meetings 8 or 9 took place and how much they cost us.

- Betty Roccograndi

We Need To Unite

Local, National

Apr 232012

From Wilkes-Barre to Harrisburg to Washington, we dutifully send in our taxes, but for what? For a handful of greedy, shameless power-mongers and “public servants,” to squander?

The Times Leader asked this month to see the contract between the Wilkes-Barre City Parking Authority and Philadelphia law firm Fox Rothschild and was told its request would be reviewed. This contract was signed in December.

We can see why the authority paused. As though paying a politically-connected consultant $300 per hour wasn’t enough of an affront, the contract revealed that once the plan to lease the city’s parking assets moves to phase two, J.J. Murphy’s hourly rate will leap to $400 an hour. Fox Rothschild’s, where his brother is a partner, will rise from $400 to $500 per hour.

When J.J. phones his brother’s law firm, our bill will climb from $700 to $900 per hour.

The parking authority has already spent $83,000 of the public’s money to pursue this multi-million dollar take-over of the city’s parking garages and meters, but that will be a drop in the bucket when all is said and done.

If J.J. decides to put in a 40-hour work week, including calls to his neighbor and buddy, Mayor Tom M. Leighton, or ”TML,” as he lists him on his time sheet, he could bill city taxpayers $16,000 a week. Are you okay with that, taxpayers?

Maybe J.J. Murphy has decided to take advantage of this too-good-to-be-true deal, as did General Services Administration Commissioner Jeff Neely. Neely arranged an $822,000 convention in Las Vegas in 2010, which a U.S. Congressional committee is now investigating, and he said this: ”Why not enjoy it while we have it.”

This despicable government official was photographed sitting in a hot tub with two glasses of red wine within reach. He’s enjoying it all right at our expense and with no shame.

The spineless Neely took the fifth when members of Congress questioned his involvement in this wholesale squandering of taxpayers’ dollars.

And as though that was not already enough to make taxpayers sick to their stomachs the week they sent their tax bills to Uncle Sam, we learned that Neely extended a one-hour ribbon cutting ceremony in Hawaii into a nine-day vacation and organized a four-day trip to Napa Valley in Northern California, racking up a tab of more than $40,000,” USA Today reported.

“Why not enjoy it while we have it.”

President Barack Obama attends a summit meeting in Columbia and tells that country’s president that part of his job when he attends official meetings is to scout out vacation spots in which to return with his jet-setting wife, Michelle, as though she needs any help. Since December, she vacationed in Hawaii, Aspen and Las Vegas.

Then there’s Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who made 27 trips to his home in Carmel Valley at an astounding cost of $32,000 per round trip, or a total of $860,00 since his appointment last July, the Associated Press reported. Panetta reimbursed the government $17,000 of that cost. But Panetta felt bad, saying, “I regret that, you know, that it does add costs that the taxpayer has to pick up.” But in his defense, Panetta said it’s important “just to get your mind straight and your perspective straight.”

So back to our own little neck of the woods, where the Wilkes-Barre City Parking Authority, with Mayor Tom Leighton’s blessing, has the sheer audacity to approve paying a former city administrator $300 an hour to prepare for meetings and chat on the phone with “TML.”

Remember the movie, Network? In it, anchor Howard Beale, pushed to the edge, had a meltdown on the air and shouted, “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it any more.”

From the GSA to Washington DC to Wilkes-Barre City Hall and the Parking Authority, taxpayers should be shouting the same thing.

Or as U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, a Pennsylvania Republican, recently put it: “It’s so easy to spend someone’s money, especially when you’re not held accountable. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that the American people have to sit back and watch this.”

Yes, it is easy to spend other people’s money, isn’t it?

The reason that these government leeches don’t think twice about convening a meeting in Las Vegas or paying a consultant $300 an hour is because it’s NOT their money.

“Why not enjoy it while we have it,” says the shameless GSA honcho who lived it up on the public’s dime.

Do you think for one minute that Leon Panetta would fly home as often “just to get (his) mind straight” at $32,000 per round trip if it was coming out of his own pocket?

Do you think for one minute that Tom Leighton or Parking Authority Chairman Paul Maher would ever pay J.J. Murphy between $300 to $400 an hour if they were the ones paying that bill?

Yeah, we’re mad as hell, but we’re also powerless, that is, unless we band together and demand that it stop.

Considering that only half the country pays income taxes, wouldn’t it be nice if all of us who do, simply refused to send another dime of our hard-money to our local, state and federal governments until they stopped squandering it and spitting in our faces as they do.

- Betty Roccograndi

They’re “Pretty Quick Talkers.” At $700 An Hour, That’s Good To Know

Local, PB-Ometer

Apr 202012

Did you know that we’re getting J.J. Murphy at a bargain price? It turns out that his normal consulting fee is $400 an hour, but, for now, he’s only charging city taxpayers $300.

We didn’t really know that before because like J.J. likes to say, “You didn’t ask,” but then The Times Leader did ask to see the contract the city Parking Authority signed in December with Philadelphia law firm, Fox Rothschild, and we learned that J.J. and his brother’s law firm are only charging 75-percent of their normal rates to pursue a multi-million dollar lease for Wilkes-Barre City’s parking assets.

Their discounted rates are $300 per hour for J.J. and $400 per hour for his brother Patrick’s law firm. When the lease plan shifts into high gear, J.J.’s rate will as well, to $400 per hour, or by 33-percent. It seems J.J. has found himsef a golden goose since leaving City Hall to help his brother in his quest for state Attorney General.

As for Fox Rothschild, its rates will jump from $400 per hour to $500 per hour, the TL reported, or by 25-percent.

If J.J. calls the Philadelphia law firm to talk shop, Wilkes-Barre will ultimately be billed $900 an hour, and that doesn’t include billings from the other consultants helping Mayor Tom Leighton with his plan to privatize the city’s valuable parking assets.

But fear not, city taxpayers, J.J. and Fox Rothschild attorney, Alan Wohlstetter are “both pretty quick talkers,” Wohlstetter told TL Staff Writer Bill O’Boyle. Some might argue, smooth talkers.

Wohlstetter, whose firm has been paid $83,000 so far, refused to say how much J.J. Murphy has been paid to date. And J.J. can’t remember. He’s probably still giddy over landing this lucrative gig.

The only bill the parking authority has made public is Murphy’s $8,130 “Timesheet” for 27 hours of services. It must be nice to compile your own timesheet, submit it and get paid, no questions asked. That first bill included “prep” for project meetings 6 and 7. So sometime before Feb. 21, there were meetings 1 to 5. Murphy confirmed there were.

“I don’t have my file with me, so I can’t tell you how much was billed,” smooth-talking J.J. told O’Boyle.

Times Leader, please find another photo of this guy. As we read these arrogant answers next to his smiling face, he looks like the cat who swallowed the canary, and, frankly, it’s pretty galling.

So now we’re, in part, at the mercy of the city Parking Authority, which we suspect will pay whatever bills land on its desk. Long time political operative Paul Maher is the chairman of the authority and is the one who signed the deal with Fox Rothschild, of Philly, which, in turn, hired J.J.

Philadelphia is, after all, the city of brotherly love.

And, let’s not forget the warning from Richard Little, director of the Keston Institute of Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy at the University of Southern California: ”These deals are rarely done under the bright light of public scrutiny. Often the facts come out long after the deal is done.” I earlier referenced Mr. Little’s comments, which were posted in Urbanophile, a blog by urban affairs analyst Aaron M. Renn.

In other words, the powers that be will tell us of any new developments in this multi-million dollar endeavor when they’re good and ready.

So let’s see. Last winter “TML” and J.J. hatched the plan to lease the city’s parking garages and meters. We just learned of it this month.

The city parking authority has already paid Fox Rothschild $83,000. We just learned of it this month.

At $300 per hour, J.J. Murphy has been paid $8,130 for 27 hours of services, from Feb. 21 to March 15. We just learned of it this month.

His brother’s law firm will not disclose any other $300-per-hour bills he’s submitted.

“I’m not going to respond to those specific questions,” said the city Parking Authority’s Philadelphia attorney.

“I can’t tell you how much was billed,” said J.J. Murphy.

“Often the facts come out long after the deal is done,” said Richard Little.

Chilling words, that are playing out, or more accurately, leaching out.

- Betty Roccograndi

Wilkes-Barre Would Be Wise To Look Before It Leaps.

Local

Apr 172012

Wilkes-Barre City Mayor Tom Leighton is pretty excited about leasing the city’s parking garages and meters to a private vendor for the next 30 to 50 years. The vendor would pay the city a minimum $20 million up front and assume a $7 million city debt.

Who wouldn’t love to get their hands on that kind of money to re-invest in the city?

Leighton and the city council; however, might want to talk to Aaron M. Renn before it takes the plunge.

Renn is ”a leading urban affairs analyst, entrepreneur, speaker and writer on a mission to help America’s cities thrive in the 21st century,” according to his blog, Urbanophile.

A concerned city resident sent me a link to his site as well as other pertinent information regarding the mayor’s grandiose plan.

In a September 7, 2010 post, Renn wrote that the parking meter lease Indianapolis signed with ACS ”is so bad and so one-sided, it almost defies comprehension.” City officials are citing that lease as a guiding light for Wilkes-Barre.

Renn also noted that Indianapolis has claimed it will receive $400 million over the term of the lease, but that according to The Indianapolis Business Journal, the vendor will take in between $724 million and $1.2 billion.

“The first and most fundamental question is why the city needs to pay a third-party vendor so much for something as basic as running a parking meter system?” Renn asked back in 2010.

How about that, Parking Authority? Isn’t that your job?

Apparently there is big money to be made from leasing a city’s parking assets. Now, we’re wondering, as tempting as $20 million is, will Wilkes-Barre be shortchanged in the long run?

IndyStar.com had reported that about one-third of the $20 million up front payment for the Indianapolis deal went to “advisers during negotiations, auditors, transition expenses and parking enforcement by Indianapolis police.

One third? That’s $6.66 million.

So, who may benefit here if such a deal goes through? One firm we know of is Fox Rothschild, of Philadelphia, which is providing the city parking authority legal representation and will help with the bidding process.

Another beneficiary is former city administrator, J.J. Murphy, who - by sheer coincidence - landed himself a $300 per hour position after he recommended brother Patrick’s law firm, Fox Rothschild, for the city job. Who knew there was a pot of gold waiting for J.J. after he left his City Hall job two years ago?

Both Fox and J.J. were on the city dole months before the city council even voted to pursue this plan.

J.J. Murphy has already billed the city Parking Authority $8,130 for 27 hours of services, including preparing for a 6th and 7th project meeting.

Who prepared for meetings 1 to 5? The Parking Authority only released one “Timesheet” from J.J. But, according to published reports, Leighton and J.J. hatched this plan last winter. So who, we wonder, got paid to prepare for meetings 1 to 5? Someone must have. You don’t just hop to project meetings 6 and 7.

Up until now, no one paid much attention to the city Parking Authority. It is time to start. There’s way too much money involved here, including an allocated $175,000 to study whether leasing the city’s parking assets would be in the city’s best interest. However, authority member Ed Katarsky complained that that figure could skyrocket to $300,000.

IndyStar.com also reported that Democrats on the city council were leery of leasing their parking meters to a private vendor but that the Republican mayor had the support to push it through. Wilkes-Barre is a different story. The council and the mayor always seem to be on the same page, depriving residents of any meaningful debate on major issues.

And Katarsky candidly told The Citizens’ Voice that Leighton pressured the authority to hire J.J. Murphy’s brother’s Philadelphia law firm. After all, that firm has scratched Leighton’s back in the past with campaign contributions.

Aaron Renn, the urban analyst, also quoted in his blog an observation from Richard Little, director of the Keston Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy at the University of Southern California. We should be alarmed.

Little said, “These deals are rarely done under the bright light of public scrutiny. Often the facts come out long after the deal is done.”

We’ve already gotten a taste of that here. The city council only last week voted to explore this plan, yet $83,000 has already been spent pursuing it, The Times Leader reported.

Hopefully, Mayor Leighton is simply acting in the best interests of the city, but we have good reason to be a little wary.

For years he kept secret a $1 million gift from an un-named benefactor and took credit for finding the money to buy new fire engines. And he had installed, on the sly, costly security alarm systems at his home and at Murphy’s.

So pay close attention to this parking plan because it would affect city taxpayers for possibly the next 30 to 50 years. Some will reap the benefits a lot sooner. We need to know who they are and how much they’re being paid.

Luzerne County’s behind-the-scenes, public be damned, 20-year, $58-million lease for a privately-owned juvenile detention center comes disturbingly to mind.

- Betty Roccograndi

Hey, TML, It’s J.J. Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick

Local, PB-Ometer

Apr 152012

Are taxed- to-death Wilkes-Barre City residents really going to stand for this? Now, every time J.J. Murphy picks up the phone to talk to “TML” (Mayor Tom M. Leighton, for you outsiders) about parking meters, he will bill the city $300 per hour.

Murphy, the city’s former administrator, has found himself a cash cow in the planned leasing of the city’s parking assets and has already been milking it for all it’s worth.

In addition to paying Murphy $300 an hour, the city Parking Authority is paying a nationally-known parking consultant, Desman Associates of Chicago, $5,000 for an initial 20 hours of consulting services, The Times Leader reported. But if you think that’s a bargain after learning that J.J., who is not a nationally-known parking expert, just turned in a bill for $8,130 for 27 hours of work, think again. Desman wanted a $75,000 retainer and will likely get it sooner rather than later.

Interesting, isn’t it, that a nationally-known parking consultant is initially working for $250 per hour while J.J. Murphy, who’s neither nationally-known nor a parking expert, is being paid $300. But that’s how things go when you recommend your brother’s Philadelphia law firm for a big city contract and then your brother’s law firm returns the favor and puts you back on the city dole at $300 an hour.

Patrick Murphy, who is running for state Attorney General, found it amusing when he appeared Friday on Steve Corbett’s radio talk show to address the controversy over his law firm hiring his brother to join the parking lease planning team. Oh, that. Yuk, yuk, yuk. I’m not involved, he said, and agreed with brother J.J. that this is a sheer coincidence. Hee, Hee, Hee. Both apparently also agree that the rest of us are saps.

To date, the Parking Authority has spent $83,000 pursuing a plan to lease the city’s parking assets, the TL reported Saturday. And that was before the city council even voted to pursue this endeavor, which was only late last week. God help taxpayers from here on out.

And don’t count on the lackeys on that parking authority to carefully oversee city funds. They’ll just do what they’re told if member Ed Katarsky is any indication, and he’s the only one The Times Leader was able to reach for comment.

“We put the cart before the horse, I guess,” Katarsky said, responding to escalating and multiple consulting fees. Ah, shucks. Regarding the liklihood that an original $175,000 estimate to pursue a parking lot lease may leap to $300,000, Katarsky said, “And just for a damn study.”

How much do you want to bet the Parking Authority did not set any caps on legal and consulting fees? The sky’s the limit, taxpayers. Just wait and see what happens if the city ever gets its hands on the $20 million minimum it will demand up front from any private vendor willing to lease the city’s parking garages and meters for the next 30 to 50 years.

And the best quote – and most telling – of all last week?

When TL Staff Writer Bill O’Boyle asked J.J. why he didn’t disclose that he was a consultant on this project when he discussed it last week, smooth-talking J.J. said, “You didn’t ask.”

Okay, J.J., maybe you could tell the taxpayers of Wilkes-Barre why they should pay you $300 an hour every time you talk shop with your buddy ”TML,” or for “prep” for a meeting, or for “moving things forward,” (whatever that entails), or for phoning your brother’s law firm in Philly - at which time the clock starts ticking on both ends.

Considering you are not a nationally-known parking consultant, we’d sure love to hear what makes you worth $300 an hour.

- Betty Roccograndi

J.J.Murphy Takes Us For Fools

Local, PB-Ometer

Apr 132012

The mother of coincidences.

J.J. Murphy, in need of work since leaving Wilke-Barre City Hall two years ago, and his former boss, city Mayor Tom Leighton, had a brainstorm. So last winter, the two had a chat about possibly leasing the city’s parking garages and meters to a private vendor.

There’s a lot of money to be made here, and, apparently, J.J., who was getting a brand new consulting business off the ground, thought he could be of service.

The best part is that J.J. just happened to know of a Philadelphia law firm which was perfect for helping the city generate bids.

No, actually, the best part was that it was a total coincidence that J.J.’s brother was a partner in that law firm.

“It’s an absolute coincidence,” is what J.J. shamelessly told The Citizens’ Voice.

But this gets better.

The Philadelphia law firm, Fox Rothschild, just happened to know a consultant who would be perfect for this planned venture. You’ll never guess in a million years who that was. Why it was J.J.

What another absolute coincidence.

So Patrick Murphy’s Philadelphia law firm lands a contract with the city and, surprise, J.J. lands a $300-per-hour gig – a princely sum by anyone’s standards. So considering that most lawyers don’t get paid $300 per hour, we can only imagine how much the city is paying the law firm of J.J.’s brother, who is running for Pennsylvania Attorney General.

This entire deal is abhorrent. The city’s former administrator is taking taxpayers for a ride, with Mayor Tom Leighton’s blessing.

“This wasn’t hidden,” Leighton said. J.J.’s been gone for two years, he said. This was about as not hidden as those two security alarm systems that were installed years ago in the homes of Leighton and Murphy at a cost of around $15,000 of taxpayers’ money.

Murphy had argued that the alarm systems were warranted because his family had been threatened. That did not explain; however, why that purchase was not made public until The Citizens’ Voice exposed it.

Mayor Tom Leighton has some explaining to do. The city is tens of millions of dollars in debt, and he has no problem with a city authority paying a consultant $300 an hour and an undoubtedly high-priced law firm much more to pursue his plan to lease the city’s parking assets for a minimum $20 million in up front cash?

Everybody’s probably going to bed at night with visions of that $20 million dancing in their heads, and how they can get a piece of the pie. The plan is only in the preliminary stages, and J.J. Murphy and his brother’s law firm are already getting a cut of the action.

Of course, in a familiar refrain, Leighton said he didn’t hire Fox Rothschild; the parking authority did. And J.J. being hired isn’t that unusual because the city hires former public works employees to mow the lawn. At $300 per hour?

Parking Authority board member Ed Katarsky told the CV that Leighton pressured the board to hire Patrick Murphy’s law firm. “And we just kind of gave in.”

Well isn’t that nice to know. Will the board also cave in if those consulting fees actually do approach $300,000 to pursue a lease? Katarsky said the parking authority expected consulting fees to be around $175,000 but that there are concerns they could amount to $300,000.

Why should anyone be concerned? Just because J.J. Murphy has already billed the authority $8,130 for 27.1 hours of work, according to the Citizens’ Voice? At that rate, someone needs to check on whether he’s billing the authority to prepare his bills and deliver them, like Attorney Angela Stevens did to the county.

“They’re hiring all these consultants,” Katarsky said. We knew they had the right to do it, but it’s kind of getting out of hand here a little bit.” A little bit?

This is pathetic. If it’s getting a little bit out of hand - and paying one consultant $300 an hour is a lot more than a little bit out of hand - put your foot down, parking authority. But like most authorities, others pull the strings and authority members are no match for the lawyers, engineers, mayors, commissioners and others who dictate what they do.

“This wasn’t hidden?” “It’s an absolute coincidence?”

There’s a new taxpayers’ group in town. Its members would be wise to attend every parking authority meeting and to scrutinize its every move regarding this plan to lease the city’s parking garages and meters. They might want to begin by checking each and every bill this authority approves for consulting and legal services.

- Betty Roccograndi

Wonder If They’ve Hired A Lawyer Yet

Local

Apr 122012

The biological parents of murdered teen Tyler Winstead felt out of the loop.

No one’s telling them a thing, they complained to The Times Leader. Not once in the interview did they express heartbreak that the son they abandoned at the age of three was murdered after playing basketball at the Catholic Youth Center. That’s not to say they’re not.

“As his parents, we have a right to know,” said Christine Winstead, Tyler’s mother. “To be gunned down like that, it’s not right.”

Okay, not knowing all the circumstances, we’re going out on a limb here, but those comments, made in the wake of their son’s murder, were a little hard to take.

As his parents, they had an obligation to take care of him, but they didn’t. That’s what’s “not right.”

Tyler Winstead was 14 when he died. His grandparents had raised him since he was a toddler. Under their loving care, he turned into a good and kind boy, an honor student at school.

His parents said they spent as much time as they could with him over the years, according to Times Leader Staff Writer Steve Mocarsky’s front-page article. But, ya know, things come up.

After they straightened out their messy lives, they could have fought to regain custody, but chose not to, they told Mocarsky.

“We thought about it, but they’re better off where they are because if we regained custody, they would have to switch schools,” said the boy’s father.

They thought about it. But, hey, raising kids is a lot of responsibility, man. Now that Tyler was taken away from them, they said they regret that they didn’t spend more time with their children (not sure how many there are).

Children and Youth Services took Tyler and his siblings away from them when Tyler was three, the TL article said

The Winsteads explained why.

“Drugs, violence, et cetera, we just happened to be caught in the middle of it. They were on our porch, in our alley. Children & Youth comes around. ‘Whoa, you’re all doing drugs.’ Wait a minute, the drugs are being sold next door; we live over here. We don’t have nothing to do with this.”

Whoa! They were innocent, yet didn’t bother to fight to get their children back? Well at least they “thought about it.” In addition to the drugs and the violence, we can only imagine what the ”et cetera” was that they “just happened to be caught in the middle of.”

But now Christine and Terrence have come out of the woodwork, miffed that they’re out of the loop. They weren’t involved in Tyler’s life, but they were upset they weren’t included in his funeral plans. They weren’t involved in Tyler’s life, but they find it unfair that no one’s been updating them on the investigation of his murder.

On Tuesday, they made the newspaper’s front page. Their 15 minutes of undeserved fame.

- Betty Roccograndi

WOW! $20 Million. Just Like That!

Local

Apr 112012

Could it be that Wilkes-Barre City Mayor Tom Leighton just purchased a new pair of rose-colored glasses?

Leighton has unveiled a plan to lease the city’s parking garages and meters for a minimum bid of $20 million.

The successful bidder must pay the money up front for a 30-year lease. We can see the stampede of interested bidders making their way to City Hall as we speak.

And guess who’s helping the city generate the proposed bids? The Philadelphia law firm of Patrick Murphy, brother of former city administrator J.J. Murphy. What a coincidence. The mayor had nothing to do with this, city Administrative Coordinator Drew Mc-Laugh – lin assured The Citizens’ Voice. The city parking authority, and not Leighton, made the decision to hire Fox Rothschild, he said.

Why does that have a familiar ring? Oh, right, last summer, Leighton had nothing to do with hiring his kids. It was former city human resources director Christine Jensen who recommended them, and the mayor simply signed the executive order putting them on the city payroll.

The reason the city chose Patrick Murphy’s Philadelphia law firm to help the city realize a sizeable windfall is because it hired that firm before, Mc Laugh- lin said. Hmmm. When J.J. was city administrator? If so, we’re guessing he had nothing to do with it.

We’d love to know why a Philadelphia law firm is representing a Wilkes-Barre Parking Authority in the first place, how long it’s been doing so and how much it’s been paid to date. Who knew there was a shortage of lawyers in Wilkes-Barre?

Patrick Murphy, a partner in that firm, according to our local newspapers, is running for state Attorney General and has the support of President Barack Obama strategist David Axelrod. After leaving City Hall, J.J. Murphy started his own consulting firm.

Don’t get us wrong. A $20 million infusion of cash to Wilkes-Barre would be just what the doctor ordered. It could use some of it to tear down the dilapidated Hotel Sterling, a building it condemned but expects the county to demolish. And city residents and businesses could maybe get some tax relief.

The only problem is how many businesses or wealthy individuals would actually be willing to pay $20 million up front to lease the city’s parking garages and meters for 30 years, especially when the city last year took in $967,618 in parking fees, and that’s revenue, not net profit?

But Mayor Leighton is a believer so we’ll just have to trust his instincts on this one.

“We believe that this lease provides the city an opportunity to inject a significant amount of funding into vital city initiatives,” Mayor Leighton said. Which begs the question, what lease? The one he’s dreaming about?

We all know the old adage, be careful what you wish for.

In addition to agreeing to pay a minimum bid of $20 million, the successful bidder would also have to agree to assume the city’s $7 million debt on the city’s parking garages, The Times Leader also reported. Now, who wouldn’t agree to do that?

Do we hear $20 million? $30 million?

This proposed deal sounds almost too good to be true, and you know what they say about such deals.

- Betty Roccograndi

Dealing With A Tragedy With Grace And Dignity

Local, National

Apr 092012

Two young black boys were gunned down and killed. One is receiving national attention. The other, we’re quietly mourning in Wilkes-Barre.

Travon Martin was killed by a crime watch member in a Florida development. President Barack Obama said if he had a son, he’d look like Trayvon. Everyone knows the name Trayvon Martin.

No one outside of Wilkes-Barre likely knows Tyler Winstead, an eighth-grade honor student. We still don’t know who shot this child to death on his way home from playing at the Catholic Youth Center. Or why.

Both teens were killed by minorities, not by whites, yet in Florida, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and their ilk are turning the Travon Martin case into a racist-fueled hate crime.

In one sense it is. We hate that the lives of two black teens have ended tragically. There are many who hate George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon. Some rabble-rousers say Zimmerman pulled the trigger because the teen was wearing a hoodie. Zimmerman said he felt threatened, and in Florida, if you feel threatened, you can shoot. This is a messy case.

In Wilkes-Barre, the suspected assailant who killed Tyler and fled was described as a thin black man wearing a hoodie. Do we really want to associate hoodies as a catalyst of racism when both a victim and a killer were wearing them?

Why haven’t Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton descended on Wilkes-Barre to condemn this senseless murder of an innocent black boy said to be kinder than kind? Well you can’t call it racism if a black man kills a black teen, now can you?

City Mayor Tom Leighton has promised to utilize all of the city’s resources to capture Tyler’s killer. Only then will we get some answers. Until then, on Wednesday Tyler Winstead, a beloved young boy by all accounts will be laid to rest.

What’s worth noting is the stark reactions to these two crimes.

In Florida, the likes of Sharpton and Jackson are making matters worse by rushing to judgment before law enforcement completes its investigation.

Jackson has urged his followers to go to the polls wearing a hoodie. Breitbart.com posted his comments, which included, ”We got to win the election, so wear your hoodie. Put a voter registration card under your hoodie if you have a hoodie. Without a voter card, you’ve been hoodiewinked?”

I’m thinking what you’re thinking. What is this nut talking about.

The New Black Panthers are demanding blood. Breitbart.com also posted comments from this menancing group’s organizational telephone call for a National Day of Action. ”I am for violence,” hissed one Panthers thug. ”I’m pissed off that the state of Florida aint on fire,” said another. “True revolution means some bloodshed. You’re going to have to cross the red sea. We’re talking about some blood,” another threatened.

In other words, they’re calling for war.

In Wilkes-Barre, a young boy taking part in a peaceful procession from Tyler Winstead’s Hill Street Home to the GAR Junior/Senior High School, said, “We all got the same purpose.” He has more smarts than Jackson.

The Rev. Gloria Watson, of Shiloh Baptist Church in Scranton told The Times Leader, “I’ve been at the (family’s) home since Thursday night. I have seen Muslim, Arab, Jew, black man, white man. People came to express their love.”

It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it, that people from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area can teach a lesson or two to the Rev. Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons of this world. They’re using the tragedy in Florida to divide races. Here, friends, neighbors, classmates and strangers have come together, hugging each other, supporting each other after a quiet, kind and innocent eighth-grader was gunned down on a city street. As far as we know, for no reason whatsoever.

What a contrast. Instead of demanding blood and revenge or inciting racial discord, those affected by and mourning the tragic murder of Tyler Winstead have vowed to watch out for each other, making sure the boy did not die in vain.

“We will employ the weapon of unconditional and radical love for humanity and our right to live, and not only live, but our right to thrive in a community in peace, in this beautiful valley God has created, in this place we call home,” said the Rev. Michael E. Brewster, pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church. He was sending a message to Tyler’s murderer, according to a Citizens’ Voice article.

Tyler Winstead will not die in vain for as hard as it is to imagine, some good will surely come from his murder because we still are The Valley With A Heart.

- Betty Roccograndi

God Bless America – STOP Right There

National

Apr 062012

“God Bless the USA” by country singer Lee Greenwood is as patriotic and stirring – and offensive to some – a song as Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.”

So much so that the powers that be at a Massachusetts elementary school felt the need to re-write the lyrics as to not offend the sensibilities of fourth-graders.

The Stall Brook Elementary School in Bellingham got a bit nervous that the school kids planned to sing Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.”

No, no, no, we can’t do that. It says God.

So the lyrics were changed to ”We Love The USA.” Much better. We sure don’t want to upset the one or two atheists who may picket the school.

“It’s a public school,” said one parent. If you want to have God in a song, go to a private school,” he told WFXT-TV, a Fox News affiliate.

When other parents protested that the song should be sung as written, all songs from the program were cancelled ”because of logistics.” In a statement, the school also said, the decision was made “to maintain focus on the original objective of sharing students’ knowledge of the United States.”

The school apparently does not teach the Declaration of Independence, which says that the truths we hold as self-evident are endowed by our Creator. It must also not share students’ knowledge of the U.S. by teaching them about the Constitution, which was passed “by the unanimous consent of the states present the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hunded and eighty seven.”

It’s a good thing the kiddies weren’t planning a tribute to Irving Berlin. We could hear it now.

“God Bless America,” the cleaned up version:

Somebody bless America. Land that I love.

Stand beside her and guide her through the might with a light from above. (Nope, can’t say that, lest some people think we’re referencing Heaven.)

Stand beside her and guide her with the might with a light that we love. Much better.

Songwriter Lee Greenwood said no one asked his permission to doctor up his lyrics, making them more politically correct.

“The most important word in the whole piece of the music is the word God,” he said. He also pointed out that if his song is good enough to be sung at naturalization ceremonies, it should be good enough to be sung anywhere.

Oh, Lee, you blew it. Maybe no one knew that “God Bless the USA” was being sung at naturalization ceremonies. The last thing we would want to do is indoctrinate new American citizens with the notion that there is a God. That must be stopped now.

By Thursday, in a refreshing outcome, the majority ruled. The school decided to keep the song in the program at next week’s assembly and allow the students to decide whether they want to sing it, reported WPRI.com.

We didn’t mean to be disrespectful, said the school’s superintendent. “We believe the use of the word God is acceptable in patriotic songs,” he said. He didn’t say whether the “word” was okay to remain in our Declaration and Constitution or on American currency.

Anyway, Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates this holiday, or Holy Day.

And to all my politically correct friends, if you exist, Happy Jelly Bean Day.

- Betty Roccograndi

I Am Watching You, Supreme Court

National

Apr 032012

President Barack Obama has put the United States Supreme Court on notice. If the justices rule that ObamaCare is unconstitutional, they will be condemned as judicial activists.

If they side with Obama, of course they will be enlightened jurists of whom we can all be proud. Whatever the outcome, this self-serving president will spin it his way. Talk about chutzpah!

And for the record, it is an abomination that Justice Elena Kagan did not recuse herself from the deliberations. As Obama’s former solicitor-general, she promoted ObamaCare on his behalf. Now she has a say in whether the bill is constitutional. There is no doubt where she stands, despite three days of oral arguments.

And there is no doubt that this Supreme Court justice believes that forcing American citizens to buy something they may not wish to buy, health care insurance, is constitutional. So much for justice being blind at the highest level. She’s the poster child for judicial activism.

“Ultimately I m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented. extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of democratically-elected Congress,” Obama said at a news conference with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, Reuters.com reported.

What is he talking about, a strong majority? This costly overhaul of our health care system, which is opposed to this day by more than half the country, was passed without a single Republican vote. And it only passed after bribe-like promises were made to some Democratic hold-outs.

And now, before the Justices even rule, Obama takes a shot at them? What’s unprecedented is a President of the United Stated inflicting, yes, inflicting, his personal will on the American people in the first place.

The Democratic majority in Congress passed this massive bill that involves life and death issues for all of us, and it’s a good guess that few even read it. There was no time because it was rushed through at record speed.

But Obama also felt the need yesterday to “remind conservative commentators that, for years, what we have heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism, or a lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.”

“A duly constituted law?” Well, we’ll see about that, won’t we?

And note the dig. “An unelected group of people?” Is he talking about justices who undergo a grueling process before being appointed to the highest court in the land?

You want to talk about an unelected group of people, who wield a lot of power, look no further than to all those czars President Obama hand-picked?

We have to wait until June to learn the ruling. Talk about suspense. Hopefully, this unelected group of people, will reach the right decision, either way, and satisfy the American people that it is the right decision.

But, God help them, if they determine that the heart of ObamaCare - making all of us buy health care insurance or face federal penalties - is unconstitutional. This president can get nasty when he doesn’t get his way.

- Betty Roccograndi

PureBunkum

Cash Cow Put Out To Pasture – For Now

Don’t Miss This Meeting!!!!!

We Need To Unite

They’re “Pretty Quick Talkers.” At $700 An Hour, That’s Good To Know

Wilkes-Barre Would Be Wise To Look Before It Leaps.

Hey, TML, It’s J.J. Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick

J.J.Murphy Takes Us For Fools

Wonder If They’ve Hired A Lawyer Yet

WOW! $20 Million. Just Like That!

Dealing With A Tragedy With Grace And Dignity

God Bless America – STOP Right There

I Am Watching You, Supreme Court

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